Unique Low

Impact Expeditions Since 1999

Khao
Sok during the Monsoon Season - The Best Wildlife Day this
Year!

There are many benefits to visiting
southern Thailand during the rainy season (monsoon season).
For one thing, accommodation prices are lower. Restaurants
aren't crowded, vendors are easy to haggle with, and
everything seems a bit slower. Four of us went to Khao Sok
National Park to appreciate the abundant wildlife within the
park.

It was the last day of our four day Paddle
Asia adventure. We all felt sluggish and stayed around the
bungalows for a while. A Blue-eared Kingfisher
sat on the handrail leading to the floating bungalows. Its
brilliant blue wings and bright rusty-orange breast
mesmerized us. It would occasionally plunge-dive after the
small fish that gather around the bamboo used to float the bungalows.

There was a cave we could explore, but
that meant swimming through cold water. The cave has a small
but impressive creek. About halfway through the cave, one
must do some swimming. Swimming through a cave in a remote
area of Thailand isn't something you do every day. This day,
we opted not to do it since the rain would make the creek
higher and because we would be cold after the swim.

It was still raining. We sat and chatted
about the previous days' wildlife sightings. We'd seen
plenty of Dusky Langurs. They are
exceedingly cute with their white eye-rings and big lips.
Their lips are not actually that big; the white hair around
their lips makes them appear bigger than they are. Spotting
langurs is easy. They're shy and whenever they see anything
out of the ordinary, they take off. The good news is that
they either don't all go or they don't go too far. When they
do move, they do so in a most amazing style. They like to
make tremendous leaps from tree to tree. Sometimes the
distances are so long that it's scary to watch. One thing is
certain, if you see a langur make a leap and there are more
langurs behind, they'll leap from the same branch to the
same branch. Monkeys use arboreal paths much like we use
ground paths. If the previous monkey made it, that means
that the branch is strong enough and that the route is safe.

Another thing is certain too, animals have
to eat whether it's raining or not. Though we didn't see
nearly as many animals while it was raining, we did when it
stopped. The rains at Khao Sok don't usually last a long
time and it's warm rain. Some clouds will come by bringing
their watery donation. Then the rain will stop for a while.
Rain forests need rain. This must happen or the environment
will change. It's a special part of the natural world that
must go on as it has through the eons.

The rain routinely arrives by moving
across the hills and valleys. You can see it coming, but the
most awesome aspect of the setting is hearing it coming. It
gives us time to put away your binoculars and sunglasses and
put on our sprayskirts (the 'gasket' that seals the kayak
cockpit to the body). The sound itself is like a smooth
constant shhhhh sound. The closer it gets, the louder it
gets.

Kayaking is the absolute best way to view wildlife
at the reservoir in Khao Sok. Why? The jungle is thick and
there aren't many trails. The jungle is full of leeches.
It's difficult to walk silently through the jungle. Did you
pick out the repeating word in these sentences? It's
'jungle'. This same impenetrable verdant vertical salad bar
grows right down to the water, the shores of the reservoir
are lined with sunlight-hungry banana trees. You can paddle
silently right up to it with a kayak in complete comfort.

The rain eased up, so we rallied and went
paddling. The conditions were actually very comfortable. The
surface of the water was dead flat. The limestone peaks were
enveloped in mist. The temperature was perfect. We paddled
gently using all of our senses to enjoy the moment. There is
something sublime about truly fresh air generated by a rain
forest after a shower. We humans tend to rely heavily on our
eyes to analyze our surroundings. That's a shame as our
other senses offer their own special opportunities. A
pleasant smell, to me at least, is as gratifying as a
beautiful panorama.

Our paddles dipped repeatedly in the
tropical water and we covered a good distance without even
noticing it. Soon, we paddled a little too close for comfort
for a Southern Pied Hornbill. It flew
around the corner of a point between two coves. Knowing that
they are gregarious, I said that we should follow it to see
some more. What we saw was way more than expected. Not only
were there more hornbills, but there was a whole community
of animals conducting their daily routines.

A Black Giant Squirrel scampered around a
tree right in front of us. It's a sizeable squirrel that's
deep black. It's entire underbelly, in contrast, is a creamy
coffee brown. Its tail is quite long. Watching the squirrel
was enjoyable.

Sitting in this one place, we also watched
a Pig-tailed Macaque jamboree. They were
eating, scratching, and definitely playing. But that's not
all. White-handed Gibbons were swinging
from the trees! At least a half a dozen gibbon were
interspersed within the macaque community. If you've never
seen a gibbon swinging wildly from branch to branch, you're
missing something very unique. They are capable of covering
a tremendous distance in a very, very short time. You won't
see that in a zoo! black female gibbon in khao sok national
park

White-handed gibbons are
dimorphic - they come in either black or tan.
They don't change colors; they are simply born black or born
tan. A brother and sister can be different colors. A black
female abruptly swung into view. A tan baby was clinging to
her tummy. Baby gibbons are so cute that there's a trade for
them among some Thais. They'll shoot a mother with her baby,
hoping that the baby survives the fall. If it doesn't, they
simply look for another pair. Baby gibbons are one of the
cutest animal babies in the wild. Uncaring bar owners in
Thailand like to dress baby gibbons up in human baby cloths
to draw tourists into their establishments. Some tourists,
ignorant of the cruel methods used to collect the animals,
are lured by these little lovelies.

Once grown however, gibbons in captivity
become unruly. Their owners have a problem. You can guess
how some of them take care of it. Others take their 'pets'
to the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project on Phuket Island where,
hopefully, they can eventually be returned to the wild.

This momma gibbon didn't have to worry about us. She went
about her business with baby on board. We'd watch her swing
and hold our breaths. We'd watch her jump and it made us
very uncomfortable. We all commented to each other how we
wished she wouldn't take so many chances.

The other gibbons seemed to be taunting
the macaques. They'd get really close, then the macaques
would take chase. Don't put your money on the macaques. A
couple of Tarzan-like swings and Mr. Gibbon is whole tree
away. We sat and watched this performance for a long time.

While
all of this was going on, Common
Flameback Woodpeckers were busy chipping away
soft bits from the dead trees in the water. Dead trees from
the creation of this massive 165 square kilometer reservoir
are still holding on throughout the reservoir. Flamebacks
are marked by vivid golden backs and black and white scaly
breasts. Males have a scarlet red crest.

A couple of Dusky Langurs were eating
leaves in the trees behind the trees with the gibbons and
macaques.

Raptors use these trees too. They make
great viewing platforms for these predators. A male Crested
Serpent-Eagle sat proudly on one of the trees in
front of us. He was not concerned about us either. I could
easily see his scaly feet and talons through my binoculars.
Occasionally, we'd make eye contact. I don't know how the
eagle felt, but I was loving it.

A brood of Red Jungle Fowl started
clucking to our left. It is believed that these are the
chickens from which all of our domestic chickens derive.

The eagle glided over to a different tree. Just below him,
a yellow dotted monitor lizard was sprawled out on a limb.
The lizard was most likely trying to get warmed up a bit
after the previous shower. It was certainly too big for the
eagle, so it didn't even bother to look up

A
pair of Blue-eared Kingfishers sat waiting for a
meal on the lower trees at the water's edge. There colors
were more vibrant than this same species shows in the nearby
saltwater Phang Nga Bay for some reason.

Some of the macaques were climbing a very
tall palm tree. Most of the berries were gone, but a few
remained. Suddenly, a gibbon jumps to the palm. After
climbing halfway up, it looked back to see a macaque
following. The gibbon went even higher. We thought that it
was getting to high to make a safe jump to any of the trees
below as the palm was twice as high as the surrounding
trees. We all held our breaths. The macaque made its move
and the gibbon gracefully slipped around and down. More
macaques went up the palm.

The black mother gibbon with baby dangled
in a tree near the palm. She jumped to the palm and started
slowly scrambling up the tree. "Oh no!", we almost all said
together. There are a lot of macaques in that tree. We've
already seen that gibbons and macaques don't really get
along. We hoped that this wouldn't mean trouble.

She climbed on. A couple of smaller
macaques clambered up behind her. There was nothing we could
do. We sincerely hoped for the best. Out of the blue, a big
male macaque comes into view. It was hidden in the thick
underparts of the palm. We never even noticed him. "This is
not good," we thought.

All of our concern ended up being for
naught. The black female gibbon just walked right past all
of the macaques and took a seat by some palm berries. Who
knows why she had such an easy time when all of the other
gibbons seemed to be attacked whenever they ventured too
close to the macaques. We didn't understand it, but we're
glad to see that happy ending.

Have you been keeping track of how many
animals we had in front of us? They've all been there during
this whole gibbon/macaque interaction. I'll help you - Southern
Pied Hornbills, a Black Giant Squirrel,
a Crested Serpent-Eagle, a Monitor
Lizard, Red Jungle Fowl, Blue-eared
Kingfishers, Common Flameback
Woodpeckers, a couple of Dusky Langurs,
Pig-tailed Macaques, and White-handed
Gibbons. It's not unusual for Khao Sok, as we
normally see this much variety every day. It was unusual
that it was all in front of us at once and for a long time.

Our
senses fully satisfied, we moved on. Some rain
approached from behind us, but I knew it would be a few
minutes before it got to us. I looked up in a dead tree and
noticed a single bird perched. I got my binoculars focused
and saw that it was an Oriental Hobby, a
small noble-looking raptor. The curtain of rain drew closer.
A Stork-billed kingfisher, with its bright orange breast and
deep blue wings, raced across our bows. I tucked my
binoculars into the dry bag under the bungy cords on the
deck of my kayak. It rained for a while.

We paddled on, enjoying the recent
memories that we knew we would remember for a long, long
time to come.